Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, has welcomed the Supreme Court ruling granting financial autonomy to Local Government Areas in the country.

In an interaction with newsmen at Obong Victor Attah International Airport on arrival from a trip to Europe, the governor described the ruling as a big relief to Akwa Ibom state government.

According to him, Akwa Ibom state government under the ARISE Agenda is focused on developing the rural areas which are within the domain of the Local Government Areas.

Governor Umo Eno speaking with reporters at Obong Victor Attah International Airport on arrival from Netherlands

“Our ARISE Agenda is also centered around developing the local government areas, so with this judgement, I feel relieved but my concern is who will bear the brunt of the autonomy.”

Pastor Eno expressed concerns over its effective implementation and the ability of Local Government Areas to handle their financial responsibilities like payment of Primary School Teachers, Local Government Employees which has been the responsibility of the state government over the years.

“The present state government has channelled volumes of funds into offsetting arrears of gratuities, pensions, salaries and other entitlements to Local Government workers, the autonomy granted the third tier of government is a relief to the state government”

He noted that the judgement will not have any negative impact on the Akwa Ibom State Government stressing that, so far, under his administration and even in previous years, Local Government Areas have been getting their due allocations, without any interference with the operations of the joint account.

Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Akon Eyakenyi PhD welcomes Governor Umo Eno (L) While the state chairman of PDP, Aniekan Akpan (R) looks on with admiration

He expressed hope that local governments, under the new arrangement, would take over the responsibility of payment of salary and other emoluments to teachers, health workers and other workers to avoid leaving unnecessary burden of arrears to successive governments.

The Governor noted that the Supreme Court verdict on local government autonomy remains sacrosanct, being the pronouncement of the final court in the land.

In his words: The Supreme Court has made pronouncements. That’s the final court of the land, but for us in Akwa Ibom, honestly I don’t see us having any issue. For me, this is a welcome development because I know how much we, as a state, supports the Local Government.

“Since I assumed office, I’ve not touched any funds allocated to the Local Government. The only challenge I envisage now, which we have to sit down and find a way around is how the local government workers would be paid promptly? How will primary school teachers be paid promptly? How do we clear the backlog that we have? I pray that we find a way around this.

On his trip to Netherlands, Pastor Umo Eno described it as a very successful business trip that will fasten the pace of development in the state.

He appreciated past governors of the state who came up with the vision of an airport for the state as well as an airline saying with an additional Airbus to the fleet of Ibom Air, the Akwa Ibom state owned airline will take over Nigeria airspace.